weingart



R. l. N. WEINGART TICKET ISSUING MACHINES July 25, 1961 9 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 14, 1958 INVENTOR.

RICHARD I. N. WEINGART FIG.

ATTORNEYS July 1961 R. l. N. WEINGART 2,993,436

TICKET ISSUING MACHINES Filed Jan. 14, 1958 9 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2.

INVENTOR.

RICHARD I. N. WEINGART ATTORNEYS y 1961 R. l. N. WEINGART TICKET ISSUING/MACHINES 9 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. 14, 1958 INVENTOR.

RICHARD I. N. WEINGART RNEYS ATTO July 25, 1961 R. I. N. WEINGART 2,993,436

TICKET ISSUING MACHINES Filed Jan. 14, 1958 9 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR.

RICHARD I. N. WEINGART 1 FIG. 4. fl zjz RNEY ATTO R. l. N. WEINGART TICKET ISSUING MACHINES July 25, 1961 9 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 14, 1958 INVENTOR.

RlCHARD I. N. WElNGART BY $446,, Lea m,

ATTORNEYS FIG. 5.

July 25, 1961 I R. l. N. WEINGART 2,993,436

TICKET ISSUING MACHINES Filed Jan. 14, 1958 9 Sheets-Sheet 6 2 INVENTOR. RICHARD I. N. WEINGART ATTO RNE S y 1961 R. l. N. WEINGART 2,993,436

TICKET ISSUING MACHINES Filed Jan. 1.4, 1958 9 Sheets-Sheet '7 Iszamm] m maxim Illll E MsTmAnouu a; m: E

FIG. 9. INVENTOR.

RICHARD I. N. WEINGART ATTO July 25, 19 1 R. l. N. WEINGART 2,993,436

TICKET ISSUING MACHINES Filed Jan. 14, 1958 9 Sheets-Sheet 8 FiG. ll.

INVENTOR.

ATTORNE S RICHARD I. N. WEINGART July 25, 1961 L w R 2,993,436

TICKET ISSUING MACHINES Filed Jan. 14, 1958 9 Sheets-Sheet 9 INVENTOR. R!CHARD I. N. WElNGART mum,

V ATTORNEYS United States Patent 2,993,436 TICKET ISSUING MACHINES Richard I. N. Weingart, New York, N.Y., assignor to Burroughs Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Jan. 14, 1958, Ser. No. 708,897 Claims priority, application Great Britain Feb. 1, 1957 16 Claims. (Cl. 101-67) This invention is for improvements in or relating to ticket issuing machines.

One object of the prment invention is to provide a ticket issuing machine for printing and issuing pre-formed separate ticket blanks and separate tickets, respectively, records of the various issues being provided in such a manner that fraudulent issue of a printed ticket is impossible.

A further object of the present invention is to provide simultaneous printing of invariable matter upon a ticket blank and overprinting of variable matter upon a ticket blank which has been partially printed with said invariable matter.

A further object is to provide a ticket issuing machine in which the direction of feed of the ticket blanks and tickets is at right angles to the direction of feed of at least one of the carbon records of such printing operations hereinbefore referred to.

A further object is to provide a machine wherein the degree of travel of a ticket blank, partially printed ticket and a completely printed ticket is appreciably more than the degree of travel of at least one of the said carbon records.

Other objects will become apparent from the following description which will more particularly describe the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates a section taken along the line 11 in FIGURE 6, the frame plate 1 having been removed;

FIGURE 2 illustrates a section taken along the line 2-2 in FIGURE 6 showing the mechanism on the other side of the frame plate 2;

FIGURE 3 illustrates a plan view of the ticket issuing machine constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURES 4 and 5 illustrate diagrammatically side elevations of the machine for the purpose of illustrating the relative positions of certain parts of the mechanism thereof when the machine has been operated;

FIGURE 6 illustrates a section taken along the line 66 in FIGURE 2;

FIGURES 7 and 8 illustrate sections taken along the lines 7--7 in FIGURE 2 and 88 in FIGURE 3, respectively, showing in detail the disposition of parts in a printing head;

FIGURE 9 illustrates a detail view of the mechanism by which the ticket blanks are fed towards the printing head, taken along the line 9-9 in FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 10 illustrates a section taken along the line 10 10 in FIGURE 9; and

FIGURE 11 illustrates a section taken along the line 11-11 in FIGURE 1.

Referring to the drawings, the machine comprises a base plate (not illustrated) upon which there are mounted a pair of spaced, vertically disposed frame plates 1 and 2 in which are mounted or journalled shafts and spindles which are hereinafter more particularly described. Various other horizontally disposed plates and angle pieces are provided which, in conjunction with vertically disposed angle pieces secured to or mounted upon the base plate, form the complete framework of the machine when connected to one another but these plates 2,993,436 Patented July 25, 1961 and angle pieces have not been illustrated in the drawings because they do not form a part of the present invention and the disposition thereof will be readily apparent to any person skilled in the art.

A shaft 3, provided upon the free end thereof with an actuating handle 4, is journalled in the frame plates 1 and 2 and carries a gear wheel 5 rigidly secured thereto. The gear wheel 5 meshes with a second gear wheel 6 fixed to a shaft 7 which is provided upon the free end thereof with an arm 8, the said arm 8 being pivotally secured at one end thereof to a link 9 which in turn is pivotally secured at the other end thereof to a printing platen arm 10. The gear wheels 5 and 6 are located upon one side of frame plate 2 Whilst the arm 8, the link 9 and the printing platen arm 10 are located upon that side of the frame plate 2 which is remote from the gear wheels 5 and 6.

The gear wheel 6 is provided with an axial extension 11 in which there is formed a pair of diametrically opposed abutment surfaces 12 arranged to be engaged by a one-Way pawl 13, which is at all times urged towards the shaft 7, by means of a spring 14 into a position in which, as a result of rotation of the shaft 7, the said pawl 13 will engage one of the said abutment surfaces 12.

The pawl 13 is carried by a disc 15 which is provided with two diametrically opposed notches 16 with one of which there is engaged, at all times when the machine is at rest, a roller 17 which is carried approximately intermediate the length of a cranked lever 18, one end of the said lever being fast with a shaft 19 for a purpose hereinafter described and the other end being located between a pair of cranked arms 20 and 21. That end of the cranked lever 18 which is located between the cranked arms 20 and 21 is formed with a horizontally disposed abutment surface 22 arranged to be located at all times vertically beneath a pivot rod 23 common both to the cranked arm 20 and to the cranked arm 21, the said pivot rod 23 being carried by or connected to an arm 24 which is itself pivotally mounted in the frame plates 1 and 2. The cranked lever 18 is urged by a spring 25 in such a manner that, when the machine is at rest, the roller 17 is seated firmly in one of the notches 16.

The cranked arms 20 and 21 are so urged by a pair of springs 26 and 27 that a substantially horizontally bent end 28 of the lever 20 engages a retaining step 29 formed upon or secured to the frame plate 1 when the machine is at rest.

A plate 30, fast upon the shaft 3 and therefore caused to rotate simultaneously with the gear wheel 5 whenever the said shaft 3 is rotated by actuation of the actuating handle 4, has associated therewith a spring-loaded tripping member 31 which is capable of performing a sliding movement transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the shaft 3 by virtue of engaging the shaft 3 by means of an elongated slot provided in the tripping memher and engaging a pin mounted upon the plate 30 by means of an elongated slot in the well-known manner.

A spring 32, by which the tripping member 31 is springloaded, is anchored on the plate 30 and on a bent lug 33 on the tripping member 31, the said tripping member being also provided with a toe-piece 34 which, when the machine is at rest, is disposed close to the horizontally bent end 28 of the cranked arm 20 which is in engagement with the retaining step 29.

A boss 35, mounted upon that side of the plate 30 V which faces the gear wheel 5, is adapted during rotation of the plate 30 as a result of actuation of the actuating handle 4 to engage a hook portion 36 of the cranked arm 21 in a manner and for a purpose hereinafter described.

As illustrated in the drawings, the apex of the plate 30 is connected to an inextensible ribbon 37 by means of a piece of wire 38 formed with a hook-like portion at both ends, the said ribbon 37 being led, firstly, around two pulley wheels 39 and 40 of which the axes of rotation are transverse to one another. Thereafter, the ribbon 37 is led around a pulley wheel 41 and is secured to the frame of a reciprocatable ticket blank feeding device 42 (here inafter called the feeding device) which is arranged to traverse the machine (transversely and from right to left and back again With respect to the operator) upon each actuation of the actuating handle. Another portion of the said ribbon 37, or a further ribbon identical with the ribbon 37, is also secured to the frame of the feeding device 42 and is led around a pulley wheel 43 in a direction away from the pulley wheels 40 and 41, the free end of this other portion of the ribbon 37 being connected to a spring 44 which is anchored in any desired manner on the frame plate 1.

The feeding device 42 comprises a U-shaped piece of metal of which the limbs have flat surfaces approximately one half of an inch wide, The free ends of the limbs are bent downwardly through 90, as is that end of the U which is provided with the cross-piece, toform depending lug portions 45 and 46. The lug portions 45 and 46 are formed with apertures therein which are arranged to slide in a horizontal direction along a pair of spindles 47 and 48, which are journalled in plates carried upon the frame of the machine. The depending lug portion 45 is further provided with a portion 49, bent through 90 towards the two depending lug portions 46, to which portion the ribbon 37 is secured as described above. The feeding device 42 is lastly provided, upon the uppermost horizontal surface thereof, with a pair of plates 50 which are so designed that, when the feeding device 42 has completed its traverse from right to left (as viewed by the operator) and abuts against a stop plate 51, the next ticket blank to be fed to the printing mechanism (hereinafter described) drops on to the horizontal surfaces provided by the limbs of the U-shaped piece of metal referred to ignated 63 are mounted in the casting 62 together with above. When the feeding device 42 is subsequently pulled from left to right by means of the ribbon 37, as will become apparent hereinafter, the said ticket blank is pushed by the leading edges of the plates 50 towards the said printing mechanism.

A stack of ticket blanks is stored in a hopper 52 mounted upon the machine frame.

One end of a long link 53 is pivotally connected to the gear wheel 5 and extends towards the front of the machine. At the front of the machine, the other end of the long link 53 is pivotally connected to an arm 54 mounted 1',

for rotation about a spindle 55 to which is keyed a ratchet wheel 56 and also a knurled roller 57 on that side of the frame plate 2 which is remote from the ratchet wheel. A ratchet pawl 58 is carried by the arm 54 and is urged by means of a spring (not illustrated) towards the ratchet wheel 56. The arrangement is such that as the actuating handle 4 is depressed, thereby rotating the gear wheel 5, the long link 53 is pulled rearwardly and thereby causes the ratchet pawl 58 to engage the next tooth of the ratchet wheel 56 so that, upon return stroke of the actuating handle 4, the ratchet pawl 58 rotates the ratchet wheel 56 and the knurled roller 57 so as to feed the carbon record and/ or carbon paper as hereinafter described.

The various parts of the printing mechanism and other mechanism associated therewith will now be described:

The machine is provided with a printing head indicated generally by 59, the said printing head being capable of being rocked at will around the pivot rod therefor which in the present machine is constituted by the shaft 3. The construction of the printing head 59 is simple, comprising two identical or similar side plates 60 and 61 spaced apart and formed into a rigid framework by spacers 59a and 59b, between the free ends of the said side plates, there being disposed and removably secured to the said side plates a casting 62 upon and in which certain parts now to be described are mounted.

. Firstly, a set of date printing wheels generally des associated retaining pawls which are urged by a leaf spring 64 to ensure that the date set up on the wheels 63 is not unintentionally altered.

In front of the date printing wheels 63 (that is, on that side of the date printing wheels 63 which is near to the operator) the'printing head 59 is provided, in the casting 62, with a cut-away portion 65 which is bounded, upon those sides thereof which extend from the front towards the rear of the machine, by a pair of grooves 66 and 67. A plate 68 (hereinafter referred to as the fare plate) is arranged to be slid into the cut-away portion 65 by engagement thereof in the grooves 66 and 67. The fare plate 68 is so designated because this printing plate has thereon type matter (cross-hatched in FIGURE 7) relating to the destination station, the fare and the distance involved. The fare plate 68 is provided at one end thereof with a finger piece 69 by means of which the operator can easily grip the fare plate when he desires to remove the same (as hereinafter explained) and at the other end is formed with a notch 70 of which. the face 71 engages, when the fare plate 68 is pushed firmlyinto its operative position, a nose 72 of a lever 73 which is pivotally mounted upon the side plate 60 and which is connected for parallel motion to a similar lever 74 by a link 75. The lever 74 is rigidly secured to aspindle 76 upon that end of which is remote from the lever 74 is secured an arm 77 of which the free end 78 has been bent through 90, the said free end extending through an arcuate slot 79 formed in the frame plate 61. The said free end 78 of the arm 77 is, when the printing head is in the lowered or operative position thereof, adapted to engage one arm 80 of a substantially L-shaped gravity catch, the arrangement being such that when the fare plate 68 is pushed home into the operative position, in which it is latched by a latch 81, the face 71 of the notch 70 engages the nose 72 and, as hereinbefore described, by means of levers 73 and 74 and link causes the arm 77 to abut the forward end of the arcuate slot 79; in so doing, and because the printing head 59 is in the lowered or operative position thereof, the arm 77 engages the arm of the gravity catch which then rocks in a clockwise direction (FIGURE 1) towards the front of the machine into the position illustrated in full lines. As a result of such clockwise rotation of the gravity catch, the second arm 80a of, the gravity catch is lifted out of the path of travel of a flange or abutment piece 801) provided upon an operating member 82 (hereinafter described), the said second arm 80a being provided with a step 80c which would otherwise engage the said abutment piece 80b on the operating member 82.

It will be appreciated that all mechanism for printing variable matter such as date of issue, destination, fare and distance involved, upon a ticket for issue by the present machine is placed together and it will be apparent from the description which follows that all such variable matter is printed at the same time.

Further parts mounted upon and in the casting 62, which comprise mechanism for printing invariable matter (so far as one operator is concerned) upon a ticket, will now be described:

An inclined slot 83 is provided in the casting 62 into which an operator may insert a printing slug 84 upon the face 85 of which there is engraved code indicia associated with that operator, so that each ticket printed when a particular operator is on duty may be traced to him in the event of an enquiry being instituted as a result, for example, of fraud being discovered. The slot 83 is provided with a releasable spring-loaded locating device 86 for engagement with a notch formed in the printing slug 84 for the purpose of locating and retaining the said slug in the correct position.

Adjacentto the position occupied by the face 85 of the printing slug 84 when the same is latched in position there is located a plurality of ticket numbering wheels,

generally indicated by 87, so designed as to print a number, say 1234, upon a ticket upon actuation of the actuating handle 4 and thereafter, upon the return stroke of the said handle 4, the units wheel is rotated by a pawl so as to print upon the next operation of the handle 4 the number 1235. Such arrangements are perfectly well known and the construction and operation thereof will not be described further except to state that the requisite rocking movement of a pawl carrier 88 (by the pawls of which the ticket numbering wheels 87 are adjusted so as to print sequential numbers) is derived from a gear wheel 89 fast with the pawl carrier 88 and mounted upon the outside of the side plate 61, the said gear wheel 89 meshing with a second gear wheel 90 to which there is rigidly connected an arm 91 which carries a laterally projecting pin 92.

The said pin 92 removably engages an open-ended slot 93 provided in the front end of the operating member 82, the rear end of the said member 82 being pivotally connccted to an arm 94 mounted upon and fast with the shaft 3. The arm 94 is located on that side of the frame plate 2 which is remote from the gear wheel 5.

The operating member 82 is inclined at an angle of about 30 (FIGURE 1) towards the front of the machine and is cranked at a point approximately intermediate the ends thereof. The operating member 82 is provided with a closed slot 95 in order that there may be permanent engagement between the said slot 95 and the reduced end of the spindle 76 for the purpose of guiding the member 82 during its reciprocating mot-ion.

Reverting to FIGURE 7 of the drawings, it will be seen that behind the ticket numbering wheels 87 (as seen by the operator) there is arranged a plate 96 (hereinafter called the design plate) which may be provided with type setting out, for example, the name of the railway or company issuing the ticket, the station at which the ticket is issued and any other matter desired such as, for example, a background design of which the purpose normally is to make forgery or fraudulent alteration of a ticket more difiicult.

It will be appreciated, therefore, that all mechanism for printing invariable matter, such as the operators code indicia, ticket serial number (which, although it is different with each ticket printed, is counted as invariable), name of railway or company issuing the ticket, name of the station at which the ticket is issued and any other design matter desired to be printed upon a ticket for issue by the present machine is placed together and it will be apparent from the description which follows that all such invariable matter is printed at the same time.

Turning now to FIGURE 2, it will be remembered that the shaft 3 carries a gear wheel rigidly secured thereto upon one side of the frame plate 2 and also that the gear Wheel 5 meshes with a gear wheel 6 which is fixed to a shaft 7. An arm 8 is provided upon that end of the shaft 7 which is disposed on the other side of the frame plate 2 than that on which the gear Wheels 5 and 6 are located. The arm 8 is pivotally secured to one end of a link 9 which is pivotally secured to a printing platen arm 10. The said arm is located near the frame plate 2 and is so arranged as to rock around a spindle 97 and also to rock a pair of identical curved arms 98, the free end of each curved arm 98'being pivotally secured to one end of a link 99. The other end of each link 99 is pivotally connected to the free end of an armof a bifurcated arm piece 100 which is secured, in any desired manner, to an intermediate piece 101 which in turn is secured to a platen 102 which is provided with a curved upper surface which is covered with a piece of material 103 which is capable of yielding to a small extent when pressed against a rigid surface. A leg 104 formed integrally with the bifurcated arm piece 100 is provided upon the free .end thereof with a roller 105 which is arranged to run in and be guided by an inclined "and specially shaped slot 106 in a vertically disposed plate 107 for a purpose which will become apparent hereinafter.

Each arm of the bifurcated arm piece is provided with a roller 108 which is arranged to move along a track 109 formed by a plate 110 which is formed with vertical side walls 111 and inwardly directed containing flanges 112. The said plate 110 has formed therein a pair of slots 113 for the accommodation of the two curved arms 98 when these are disposed in the position illustrated in full lines in FIGURE 2.

The plate 110 is carried upon a pedestal 114 which is guided for vertical movement in a pair of blocks 115 and 116, the pedestal being provided at the lower end thereof with a locating stud engaged by the uppermost convolutions of a spring 117, the lowermost convolutions of the said spring engaging a locating stud provided upon the horizontal surface of an arm 118 rigidly secured to the shaft 19.

The arrangement of the parts described above is that, when the actuating handle 4 is operated, the gear wheel -5 rotates in a clockwise direction and the toe piece 34 on the tripping member 31 pushes the bent end 28 of the arm 20 otf the step 29 and, under the influence of the springs 26 and 27, the two arms 20 and 21 move sharply downwardly thereby rotating, by engagement of the pivot rod 23 common to the two arms 20 and 21 with the abutment surface 22, the cranked lever 18. Since the cranked lever 18 is rigidly connected to the shaft 19, the shaft 19 is rotated in an anti-clockwise direction as seen in FIGURE 1 or in a clockwise direction as seen in FIG- URE 2. Referring to FIGURE 2, it will, therefore, be appreciated that the pedestal 114 will be moved upwardly upon such rotation of the shaft 19, such upward movement serving to ensure that the platen 102 presses against the undersides of the two tickets which are to be printed (see FIGURES 9 and 10),'the ticket 119 to be initially printed with invariable subject matter as hereinbefore referred to and the partially printed ticket 120 to be over-printed with additional variable matter as here inbefore referred to. The machine is provided with a frame indicated generally by 121 which is capable of limited angular movement about a pivot rod 122.

It should be pointed out that, when any ticket blank is pushed from the left towards the right (FIGURES 6, 9 and 10) by the feeding device 42, as, for example, the ticket blank 123 (FIGURE 10), it is pushed by the plates 50 so that a small margin on each end of the ticket blank (on the short sides of the said blank) becomes engaged in a groove formed by the upper edge of the side wall of the frame 121 and horizontally disposed lip 124. The blank 123 being moved by the plates 50 of the feeding device 42 abuts the trailing edge of the blank 125 previously fed towards the ticket ejection opening 126 and, in so doing, and because the platen 102 and the pedestal 114 have moved downwardly upon completion of the downstroke of the actuating handle 4, causes (a) the completely printed ticket 120 to be ejected;

(b) the partially printed ticket 119 to be moved into that position in which variable matter may be overprinted on the said partially printed ticket; and

(c) the ticket blank 125 to be moved into that position in which invariable matter, as hereinbefore referred to, may be printed on to the said blank.

It will be understood, therefore, that upon operation of the printing mechanism of the machine, one ticket is completed, as regards essential variable matter being added thereto, whilst a further ticket is being simultaneously prepared as regards initial invariable matter being printed on a blank. These simultaneous printing operations are effected upon actuation in a downward (or, if desired, upward) direction of the actuating handle 4. Upon movement of the said handle 4 in the reverse di rection, the feeding device 42 having moved to the position thereof illustrated in FIGURE 10, the completely 7 printed ticket'is issued by the machine and the operations (b) and (c), above, are elfected.

The platen 102 is wide enough to span the combined widths of two adjacent ticket blanks and by means of the said platen in association with the mechanism in the printing head 59 not only carbon records are kept of all ticket serial numbers of all tickets issued by the machine, such serial numbers having printed adjacent thereto the operators code indicia, but also the tickets themselves are partially printed and then overpn'nted. This is achieved by the provision of a doublesided carbon strip 127 (FIGURE 9) which for convenience may be a typewriter ribbon, the said strip 127 being located between a band of thin paper 128 and a band of carbon backed paper 129, the carbon backing being designated 130*. Thus, it will be appreciated that, when pressure is applied by the platen 102 thereby pressing the ticket blank 119 and the partially printed ticket 120 upwardly against the said carbon backing 130, the relevant data is printed upon the said ticket blank 119 and upon the partially printed ticket 120. Further, two carbon records are taken of the limited date hereinbefore referred to because not only is the upper side of the band of carbon backed paper 129 printed by means of the carbon strip 127 but also the underside of the band of thin paper 128 is printed with the letters, numerals and the like in reverse. However, in view of the fact that the paper is very thin, it is possible to read such printing through the paper.

The carbon strip 127, which is a typewriter ribbon for convenience, is unwound from one spool and rewound upon a second spool by mechanism generally indicated by 131 similar to that employed upon a typewriter, and it will not, therefore, be further described.

It will be obvious from the drawings that the degree of travel of a ticket blank 125 or of a partially printed ticket 119 is far greater than the degree of travel imparted, by means of the knurled roller 57 and a springloaded roller 132 firmly contacted therewith, to the bands 128 and 129. Thus, wastage of paper consequent upon the degree of travel of both being the same is avoided and it is possible to feed the said bands 128 and 129 towards the front of the machine (or in any other desired direction) at a rate which is, or by increments which are, determined by the amount of information which it is considered to be essential to provide upon the two carbon records, one of which will be reeled up in the machine and the other of which may be retained by the operator or thrown away, as desired.

Since a ticket is prepared in two stages, the printing in each stage being performed through the medium of carbon backing upon that carbon record sheet which is lowermost or immediately above the ticket blank or partially printed ticket, it is not possible for an operator easily to issue a ticket upon which certain data has been deliberately prevented from being printed with a view to defrauding the railway or company. Apart from a complicated system of fraud, anything printed on a carbon record must also be printed upon a ticket blank or partially printed ticket.

As has hereinbefore been described, the printing head 59 is capable of pivotal movement around the shaft 3. However, it is not necessary to undo a catch member 133, provided on the machine for the purpose of securing the printing head in its operative position illustrated in full lines in FIGURE 2, each time it is desired to remove the fare plate 68 last employed. It is only necessaryto release the latch 81 and withdraw the fare plate 68 and insert another fare plate relating to the destination asked for by the customer, thereafter re-applying the latch 81.

The operation of the machine described above may be briefly summarized as follows:

FIGURES 1 and 2 show the major operating parts .of the machine as they are in rest position. FIGURE 4 shows various of the parts as they are immediately '8 after initial movement is imparted to the operating handle 4. FIGURE 5 shows the parts in the positions they assume at the end of a stroke of the handle prior to its return to initial position. 1 1

Referring to the figures just mentioned, supplemented by the additional figures, the machine is ready for operation when a slug is inserted and latched in position bylatch 81. As the handle 4 starts to the right as viewed in FIGURE 4, the first operation is elfected by the displacement of the turned end 28 of lever 20 from its arresting member 29 by the action of the nose 34 of slide 31 which moves with the gear 5. When this occurs the springs 26 and 27 pull levers 211 and 20 downwardly and with them the pin 23 to engage the free end 22 of lever 18, this action taking place against the forces exerted by springs 25 and 117 with resulting compression of the latter to exert upward force on the platen assembly. The downward movement of pin 23 occurs to the limit defined by engagement of the shoulder 36 of lever 21 with pin 35. The condition thus attained is illustrated in FIGURE 4.

'It will be noted that at this time the crank 8 and link 9 are substantially in dead center position. As a result, little movement of the platen driving arms 98 occurs until the handle 4 and gear 5 have been given substantial movement sufiicient to bring opposite roller 17 a portion of the outer periphery of the disc 15. The movement of this disc, in fact, will move the arm 18 further downwardly so as to secure strong compression of the spring 117 to force the platen 103 against the ticket. As rotation of shaft 9 proceeds, pawl 13 is engaged and driven counterclockwise as viewed in FIG- URES 1 and 4 to impart to arms 98 their effective driving movement. Guidance of rollers 108 in their tracks accompanied by the movement of roller 105 in the camshaped opening in plate 107 effects a rolling action of the platen to produce printing under the upward force exerted on the platen through the action of spring 117. Printing is thus effected as indicated above both on the ticket to be issued and the next blank ticket.

Concurrently with the above during this stroke of handle 4 the link 82 is moved to the right as viewed in FIGURE 4 to effect a return idle stroke of the counteractuating lever 9'1.

Also during this stroke the link 53 is moved toward the left as viewed in FIGURE 1 to bring the pawl 58 beyond the next tooth of the ratchet 56 in preparation for a subsequent feeding action of the strips 128 and 129.

Also during this stroke the ribbon 37 is released so that the spring 44 retracts the carriage 42 to bring the ticket pushing plates to the left of the lowermost ticket in the stack in preparation for a feeding movement.

During this same stroke the pin 35 raises the link 21 and with it the pin 23 and link 20 which finally rises sufliciently to bring its portion 28 above the stop 29. While pin 23 is thus released from the left hand end 22 of lever 18, the lever 18 is not released by the disc 15 until essentially the end of this stroke of the handle, when release is effected by the presence of the next notch 16 in this disc. When this last condition is attained, the spring 25 effects release of compression of spring 117 permitting the platen assembly to drop away from the ticket, the printing having been completed. The length of the forward stroke of the handle 4 is such as to effect substantially a rotation of disc 15 and arm 8.

The return stroke of handle 4 involves the followmg:

The platen '103 is returned to its original position but, due to release of compression of spring 117 this return is effected with the platen released from the tickets. The return movement of gear 5 tensions the ribbon 37 and through it the carriage 42 is moved to the right as viewed in FIGURE 6 to push in a forward direction the lowermost ticket of the stack and through it the preceding tickets to effect issuance of the completely 9 printed ticket and to advance to overprinting position the ticket which was printed in the position 119 shown in FIGURE 9.

At the same time, the strips 128 and 129 are advanced by the action of pawl 58. The left hand movement of link 82 as viewed in FIGURES 4 and 5 effects counteradvance.

Near the end of this return stroke the plate 31 engages the turned end 28 of lever 20 and yields to ride in contact therewith until its nose 34 drops behind end 28. Pin 35 withdraws from the end 36 of lever 21. The result of the foregoing and other obvious occurrences is to restore the parts to their initial positions.

The ticket issuing machine hereinbefore described is manually operated but it will readily be appreciated that the machine may be tripped by depression of a button or lever, the actual rocking of the shaft 3 being performed by means of a motor. Further, the present machine provides only two carbon records of operations but more may easily be provided.

It will be obvious that as the machine is at present constituted, upon both carbon records, both the serial number of the ticket and the destination and other code material, which are printed in two consecutive operations in dilferent positions upon the carbon records, will appear side by side along the same line. This is achieved by virtue of the carbon records being fed towards the exterior of the machine upon each actuation of the machine and by means of appropriate disposition of the ticket numbering wheels in relation to the position occupied by the destination printing type, it being remembered that the operators code indicia should, preferably, be located adjacent the serial number and that a carbon strip 127 of suflicient width should be provided.

The printing head 59 may, quite obviously, be lifted by the operator after the completion of the first half of the operating cycle of the machine in the event that a fare plate for a particular destination does not exist in order that the destination and associated code data may be handwritten on the ticket, but the operator must exercise great care in these circumstances to ensure that the destination and associated code data are so written as to appear in precise alignment with the serial number which is borne by the ticket issued for that destination upon the carbon record or records.

The ticket issuing machine hereinbefore described may be employed to issue vouchers or business forms relating to the control of business other than travel from one destination to another and the term a machine for issuing forms embodying data, for example, tickets" hereinafter employed in the claims is intended to cover a machine for issuing such vouchers or business forms, and the term a card is intended to cover not only a ticket blank but also a partially printed ticket as hereinbefore described but also such a voucher or business form.

What is claimed is:

l. A machine for issuing business forms comprising means for holding stacked individual cards, means for guiding and advancing cards from the stack thereof in edge to edge engagement, means for guiding and advancing a record strip, means for effecting simultaneous printing of a pair of said cards and of said record strip, and means for controlling a cycle of operation of the machine to effect printing and advance of the printed cards.

2. A machine for issuing business forms comprising means for holding stacked individual cards, means. for guiding and advancing cards from the stack thereof in edge to edge engagement, means for guiding and advancing a record strip, means for effecting simultaneous printing of a pair of said cards and of said record strip, and means for controlling a cycle of operation of the machine to effect printing and advance of the printed 10 cards to issue one of said printed cards from the machine and the other into the position of printing previously occupied by the issued card, thereby to be printed in a subsequent operation of the machine.

3. A machine according to claim 1 provided with means for positioning a removable slug for printing one of said pair of cards.

4. A machine according to claim 2 provided with means for positioning a removable slug for printing of the card issued in the first mentioned cycle of operation.

5. A machine for issuing business. forms comprising means for holding a stack of individual cards, means for removing one card from the said stack and advancing the same, means for guiding at least two cards thus removed and being advanced in abutting relation, and means for effecting printing of the said two cards simultaneously.

6. A machine according to claim 1 provided with a platen having a reciprocating rolling motion relatively to said pair of cards, and means providing pressure of the platen on a card during reciprocation in one direction to effect printing and removal of said pressure during reciprocation in the opposite direction.

7. A machine according to claim 5 provided with a platen having a reciprocating rolling motion relatively to said two cards, and means providing pressure of the platen on a card during reciprocation in one direction to effect printing and removal of said pressure during reciprocation in the opposite direction.

8. A machine for issuing business forms comprising means for guiding and advancing individual cards in series, and means effecting simultaneous printing of adjacent cards, said printing means comprising a single impression member, said advancing means effecting, following printing, issuance of the leading card of the series and advance of the next card into the position occupied by the leading card during printing of the leading card whereby said next card is arranged to be printed in the next printing operation.

9. A machine for issuing business forms comprising means for guiding and advancing individual cards in series in abutting relationship, and means effecting simultaneous printing of adjacent cards, said advancing means effecting, following printing, issuance of the leading card of the series and advance of the next card into the position occupied by the leading card during printing of the leading card whereby said next card is arranged to be printed in the next printing operation.

10. A machine according to claim 8 including means for printing a record strip simultaneously with the printing of a pair of cards.

11. A machine according to claim 9 including means for printing a record strip simultaneously with the printing of a pair of cards.

12. A machine for issuing business forms comprising means for holding stacked cards, means for guiding and advancing cards from the stack thereof to a printing position, means for guiding and advancing a record strip to the printing position to overlie said cards, said record strip being fed at right angles to the feed of said cards, means for efiecting simultaneous printing of a pair of said cards and of said record strip, and means for controlling a cycle of operation of the machine to efiect printing and advance of the printed cards.

13. A machine as claimed in claim 12 wherein said printing means includes a single impression member.

14. A machine for issuing business forms comprising means for holding stacked cards, means for guiding and advancing cards from the stack thereof, means for guiding and advancing a record strip, means for effecting simultaneous printing of a pair of said cards and of said record strip, means for controlling a cycle of operation to effect printing and advance of the printed cards, a platen having a reciprocating rolling motion relative to said pair of cards, and means providing pressure of the platen on a card during reciprocation in one direction to effect printing and removal of said pressure during reciprocation in the opposite direction.

15. A machine for issuing business forms comprising means for holding a stack of individual cards, means for removing one card from said stack and advancing the same, means for guiding at least two cards thus removed and being advanced, and means for efiecting printing of said two cards simultaneously including a platen having a reciprocating rolling motion relative tosaid two cards and means providing pressure of the platen on a card during reciprocation in one direction to effect printing and removal of said pressure during reciprocation in the opposite direction.

16. A machine for issuing business forms comprising means for holding stacked cards, means for guiding and advancing cards from the stack thereof to a printing position, means for guiding and advancing a record strip to the printing position to overlie said cards, means for effecting simultaneous printing of a pair of said cards and of said record strip, said printing means includ- :ing a single impression mem v ling a cycle of operation of t and advance of the printed car References Cited in the file of this .patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Dunn July 13, 1886 Robinson Sept. 18, 1888 Murphy July 12, Terry July 29, Friedlein Mar. 31, Standley Nov. 28, Fuller Oct. 11, Hubbard GollWitzer Helsel Schuster Lambert Brown 'IIIIIIIIf: Vhlig her, and means for controle machine to effect printing May 26, 1953 May 24, 1955 July 12, 1955 July 1, 1958 

